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English Grammar > Verbs > Active and passive voice

Active and passive voice

Level: beginner

Transitive verbs have both active and passive forms: Pronouns

Determiners and
Active Passive quantifiers

Possessives
The hunter killed the lion. The lion was killed by the hunter.
Adjectives
Someone has cleaned the windows. The windows have been cleaned. Adverbials

Nouns
Passive forms are made up of the verb be with a past participle:
Verbs
Verb phrases
Subject be Past participle Adverbial
Irregular verbs

Questions and
English is spoken all over the world.
negatives

Short forms
The windows have been cleaned.
The verb 'be'

Present tense
Lunch was being served.
Past tense

Perfect aspect
The work will be finished soon.
Continuous aspect

They might have been invited to the party. Modal verbs

Active and passive

voice
If we want to show the person or thing doing the action, we use by: 'to'-infinitives

'-ing' forms
She was attacked by a dangerous dog. Talking about the
The money was stolen by her husband. present

Talking about the past

Talking about the

future
Active and passive voice 1
Verbs in time clauses
and 'if' clauses

Active and passive voice 2 Wishes and

hypotheses

Clause structure and

verb patterns
Active and passive voice 3
Delexical verbs: 'have',
'take', 'make', 'give',
'go' and 'do'
Level: intermediate

The passive infinitive is made up of to be with a past participle:

The doors are going to be locked at ten o'clock.

You shouldn't have done that. You ought to be punished.

We sometimes use the verb get with a past participle to form the passive:

Online courses
Be careful with that glass. It might get broken.
Peter got hurt in a crash.

We can use the indirect object as the subject of a passive verb: Our websites

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Active Passive for children aged 5
to 12
I gave him a book for his birthday. He was given a book for his birthday. LearnEnglish
Teens for children
aged 13 to 17
Someone sent her a cheque for a thousand She was sent a cheque for a thousand
euros. euros. TeachingEnglish
for teachers and
teacher educators
We can use phrasal verbs in the passive:

Active Passive
Help
They called off the meeting. The meeting was called off. Free online
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His grandmother looked after him. He was looked after by his grandmother.
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They will send him away to school. He will be sent away to school.
Frequently asked
questions

Getting started
Active and passive voice 4
House rules

Grammar reference: Active and passive voice 4

Put the words in the correct order to make sentences with the passive.

The president is hoping to be elected for a second term.

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Active and passive voice 5

Level: advanced

Some verbs which are very frequently used in the passive are followed by the to-infinitive:

be supposed to be expected to be asked to be told to

be scheduled to be allowed to be invited to be ordered to

John has been asked to make a speech at the meeting.

You are supposed to wear a uniform.
The meeting is scheduled to start at seven.

Active and passive voice 6

Grammar reference: Active and passive voice 6

Use the most suitable infinitive to complete eachFeedback
sentence
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Total score is 6 out of 8 (75%)

1. Candidates are expected to prepare  no less than 15 minutes before the start of the examination.

2. Guests of the hotel are asked not to smoke  anywhere in the building.

3. In the UK, you're allowed to leave  school at the age of 16.

4. The soldiers were ordered to arrive  for an attack at first light the following day.

5. We've been invited to give  a presentation at next year's conference.

6. If you want to use one of the meeting rooms, you're supposed to book  it 48 hours in advance.

7. I know who our new head of department is going to be, but I've been asked not to tell  anyone.

8. The next train to Warsaw is scheduled to depart  at 22.10.

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Active and passive voice 7

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Average: 4.1 (16 votes)

‹ Modals with 'have' Up 'to'-infinitives ›

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Submitted by Nish_Mish on Fri, 30/06/2023 - 22:02 Permalink

What will be the passive voice for statements like: "Time and tide wait for
none."

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Submitted by Peter M. on Sat, 01/07/2023 - 07:43 Permalink

Hello Nash_Mish,

You could make a sentence like this: None are waited for by time and
tide.

However, it's a horrible sentence. Some sentences simply don't work

well in terms of style in passive voice.

Peter

The LearnEnglish

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Submitted by Khoshal on Thu, 22/06/2023 - 15:12 Permalink

Hello teacher,

What’s the active of the following sentence?

Example: They are getting married later this year.

Thanks,
Khoshal

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Submitted by Kirk Moore on Thu, 22/06/2023 - 16:23 Permalink

Hello Khoshal,

I'd say this sentence is already in the active voice. We often use 'get'
+ an adjective to refer to a change of state, e.g. 'I'm getting sick'
means I'm going from healthy to sick. In the same 'I'm getting married'
means I'm going from being single to being married. In this case,
'married' is an adjective, not a past participle.

It is grammatically possible to say 'They will be married later this year'

(which is a passive), but in most situations that would sound strange.

It's true that we often use 'get' instead of 'be' to make passives in
informal speaking, but that's not the case with 'get married'.

All the best,

Kirk
LearnEnglish team

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Submitted by Khoshal on Thu, 22/06/2023 - 17:01 Permalink

Thank you for the explanation!

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Submitted by Seb1989 on Wed, 07/06/2023 - 08:20 Permalink

Hello,

I have a question about the correct placement of the other sentence parts
in passive sentences. Starting from 'Henry had received payments from a
weapons manufacturer.' Two possibilities suggest themselves for the
passive:

Payments from a weapons manufacturer had been received by Henry.

Payments had been received from a weapons manufacturer by Henry.

Both seem correct, although the first sentence breaks the usual rule of
retaining adverbials in the end part of the sentence. To me, the first
sounds more natural, as the expression 'from a weapons manufacturer'
defines 'payments' like a relative clause (e.g. payments which had
originated from a weapons manufacturer'). The second, however, does
seem to conform with the structure of passive sentences generally and
thus should be the preferred conversion, even though it sounds quite
awkward to my ears.

Thank You,

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Submitted by Kirk Moore on Wed, 07/06/2023 - 10:57 Permalink

Hello Seb1989,

I agree that the first sentence is much easier to understand. I'm not
completely sure, but I'd probably call 'from a weapons manufacturer' a
prepositional phrase that modifies 'Payments' (the head of the noun
phrase) and therefore sits under it. In other words, I don't think it's an
adverbial here. Even if it were, in almost any situation, clearer
sentences beat sentences that are ostensibly more grammatical, at
least in my book.

If I were writing a text that needed to include one or the other of these
sentences, I'd choose the first one unless there were some good
reason not to. For example, if what's important is that he received
payments (and not that they came from a weapons manufacturer),
then the second one might be better. Though really in that case, I'd
probably just leave out 'from a weapons manufacturer'.

When exercises that involve transforming actives into passives are

created, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that passives are used for
very specific reasons. One of the main reasons is for leaving out
information. If that's the case, then key elements of the active
sentence wouldn't make it into the passive version in real usage.

Hope this helps.

All the best,

Kirk
LearnEnglish team

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Submitted by Nish_Mish on Sun, 21/05/2023 - 16:20 Permalink

What is the passive voice for "permission is granted" or " mission

accomplished".

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Submitted by Jonathan R on Mon, 22/05/2023 - 04:27 Permalink

Hi Nish_Mish,

The first one is already in the passive voice (subject + be + past

participle). The second one does not have "be" in it, so it's just a noun
phrase (noun + past participle). It can be changed into the passive
voice: The mission is accomplished.

The active voice would be something like: I grant you permission and I
accomplished the mission.

I hope that helps.

Jonathan

LearnEnglish team

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Submitted by whoferra on Wed, 07/06/2023 - 01:33 Permalink

Change the active sentence into passive. “ They play footbal everyday
*
how about this?

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Submitted by Jonathan R on Wed, 07/06/2023 - 04:27 Permalink

Hi whoferra,

In your sentence, "They" is the subject and "football" is the object.

To make the passive, first reverse them. Change "they" into the
object form "them", and add "by". Then, change the verb into the
passive form: "be" + past participle. --> Football is played by them
every day.

This passive sentence is grammatically correct, but it sounds quite

unnatural! I think the active sentence would be much more
commonly used.

Jonathan

LearnEnglish team

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Submitted by User_1 on Tue, 16/05/2023 - 14:10 Permalink

Hello,
I am a bit confused about the passive voice in these two sentences:
1. Lunch was being served.
2. Lunch was served.
Since they refer to the past, please could you explain the difference
between them?
When is it better to use the first than the second?
Thanks

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Submitted by Jonathan R on Tue, 16/05/2023 - 14:19 Permalink

Hi User_1,

The first one is the past continuous. It indicates that the action was
already in progress at a particular moment. For example, let's say I
arrive at a restaurant at 12:30 pm, but the restaurant had already
started serving lunch at 12 pm. I can say "Lunch was being served
when I arrived" (i.e. it was already in progress at the moment I
arrived).

The second one is the past simple. It indicates the whole action of
serving lunch. For example, "Lunch was served, and then the
restaurant staff took a break".

I hope that helps.

Jonathan

LearnEnglish team

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Submitted by User_1 on Tue, 16/05/2023 - 15:18 Permalink

Hi Jonathan
Thank you so much for the explanation.

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Submitted by Mhynor on Sat, 13/05/2023 - 19:43 Permalink

Hello everybody!
I need help with these two sentences. I found them in a newspaper
article:
"...the young boy who is said to have loved riding his bike and nature"
"She went out to have her nails manicured."
Are any of them a Passive Voice?
Thank you so much for your answer!

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Submitted by Peter M. on Sun, 14/05/2023 - 07:13 Permalink

Hello Mhynor,

The first sentence contains a passive construction: '...is said to...'

There are a lot of similar phrases to this which are grammatically

passive and are used to talk about reputation or expectation: is said
to..., is thought to..., is believed to..., is hoped to... etc.

The second sentence does not contain a passive construction but it

does have a causative have construction ('...have her nails
manicured'), which has some similarities to passive forms, and is even
sometimes describes as a pseudo-passive construction.

You can find more information on causatives here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/course/upper-intermediate/unit-
15/session-1

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by anastasiia945 on Thu, 02/02/2023 - 19:16 Permalink

Good day!

I'd like to clarify this sentence: "I do not remember Jack giving me the
ticket." As far as I understand, its passive form should be " I do not
remember being given the ticket by Jack." My question is - why do we
leave 'I do not remember' as it is?

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Submitted by Peter M. on Fri, 03/02/2023 - 07:28 Permalink

Hello anastasiia945,

It is possible to create a passive construction such as 'It is not

remembered by method...' but it sounds horrible stylistically and is not
something we would ever say.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Butteryliscious on Thu, 26/01/2023 - 14:35 Permalink

How do I change the voice of sentence given below

Why do I refuse to be interviewed?

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Submitted by Peter M. on Fri, 27/01/2023 - 07:53 Permalink

Hello Butteryliscious,

The sentence already has a passive form - the passive infinitive (to be
interviewed). You could manipulate the sentence into 'Why is being
interviewed refused by me?' but it seems a pointless thing to do as it
is a clumsy construction that I can't imagine ever using.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by milisisak on Mon, 26/12/2022 - 13:46 Permalink

Hi there, I am struggling with a sentence I think you can help me with. is

the sentence - With its glass mosaic edifice, it has been nicknamed” the
diamond of the desert.” passive or active, and why so?

Thank you